Modern industrial automation lines often include a number of hazardous machine access points that, if inappropriately breached, can cause injury to an operator. These access points can expose the operator to risks associated with dangerous machine components, including but not limited to crushing by moving parts, electrocution through contact with exposed high-voltage lines or components, chemical burn, laceration or dismemberment by a moving blade, radiation exposure, or other such hazards.
To mitigate the risks associated with these access points, plant engineers typically implement safety solutions designed to protect operators who interact with the access points. For example, a proximity switch may be installed on a safety gate that provides access to a hazardous machine. The proximity switch output may be tied to a logic device that operates a contactor to isolate power from the machine when the proximity switch indicates that the safety gate is open. In another example, an access point that allows an operator to load a part in a stamping press area may be protected by a light curtain that detects when a physical body (e.g., an operator's arm) has reached through the access point. As with the exemplary proximity switch described above, the light curtain's output can be tied to a logic device that controls a contactor to isolate power to the press while the light curtain is broken by the detected body.
The functional safety solutions implemented for a hazardous access point must be compliant with current industry-specific functional safety standards, such as those defined by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) or the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). Such standards may define formal methodologies for determining a risk level associated with a machine, and provide statutory guidelines for designing safety systems to mitigate the risk. For example, the safety standards may define requirements dictating safety system types and configuration that must be implemented to counter a particular type of hazard.
Selecting the proper safety system hardware for a given safety function that satisfies the industrial safety standards can be a complicated and time-consuming task, typically involving manual selection of safety devices from a catalog and documentation of the input, logic, and output devices that make up the safety system. Moreover, safety system designers are required to be conversant with the prevailing safety standards to ensure that the resulting safety function is designed in compliance with the standards.
The above-described deficiencies of today's industrial control and business systems are merely intended to provide an overview of some of the problems of conventional systems, and are not intended to be exhaustive. Other problems with conventional systems and corresponding benefits of the various non-limiting embodiments described herein may become further apparent upon review of the following description.